Re: Call me a conspiracist, but refs will NOT be in favor of us next week. NFL wants

WoW! That's all I can say after reading this thread. WOW! I thought people from Texas would be more knowledgeable about the game they are purported to love so much. There hasn't been a single referee that hasn't said that the call the ref made in the Oakland/Pats playoff game wasn't the correct one. Just because the announcers and most of the fans watching the game, didn't know this obscure rule, doesn't change that FACT.

That's being said, the call the Colts got in your game was a lot less cut and dried, but that's just my opinion.

As to the irrational feeling that Houston gets screwed, its only natural, and every fan base feels that way. I know for a certain fact that there is a healthy number of Pats fans who feel that if the Pats manage to get by Houston on Sunday, they'll not only have to beat the Broncos, but also the refs.

The feeling that the Pats ALWAYS get the calls is absurd. Over the years the Pats have be victimized by bad calls as often as they've been helped. The best example was the 2006 AFCCG vs the Colts. In that game the Pats were victimized by a phantom PI call in the endzone, and just 2 series later what might be the most blatent PI I've seen in over 40 years of watching the NFL was totally ignored. I could name a dozen other games as well.

Lets take the last Houston Pats game. The Pats seemingly got 2 calls in their favor. One was the first drive where a holding call that kept the drive going. Even a Texan fan who saw the replay would have to admit that Welker WAS being held. Hell, he was being tackled.

The second was the long PI, when the Welker was hit on a ball that seemed well overthrown. Believe me I was as outraged by the call as Texans fans were, and I said so to my fellow Pats fans on our message board. HOWEVER, it was pointed out that by cutting off Welker's attempt to catch the ball, the Texan DB violated the rules and was correctly flagged.

Now that I understand that the correct call was made, my outrage is more against the rule as opposed to the ref who called it. BTW - if you are tired of watching QB's make bad passes and get rewarded with a long gain blame Bill Polian. HE's the one who got the rules changed after he realized he'd never beat the Pats or Steelers under the old rules

BTW- if you watched the Raven Colts game, throwing up prayers and hoping the refs bail you out was clearly a part of the Raven's offensive plan. Flacco did it over and over again, and thanks to the Polian rules it worked

That's why the Texans would be crazy not to employ the same strategy against the Pats. On third and 10 go deep. Whats the down side. One AJ catches it. Two - the defensive player is flagged - Three the pass is incomplete Four - the pass is picked, Either of the first 2 options result in a 40 yd gain, Either of the later 2 options result in the Pats getting the ball 40 yds down field. Again, what's the downside? And that's why the PI can be the most unfair penalty in existence. No other penalty exacts such a cost on what is often a judgement call